19 April 2011

Did the P-B 'roll out the red carpet' for the Tea Party?

Two liberal blogs were OUTRAGED by our report on the Rochester Tea Party Patriots organization last weekend.

Why? Because they don't care for the Tea Party, of course, but apparently they also believe our stories were motivated only by a rally that the local Tea Party had planned for Friday, then cancelled because of bad weather.

An anonymous blogger called Phoenix Woman wrote on the blog Firedoglake:

"...the sunshine patriots so beloved of the P-B get fawning treatment despite being total no-shows."

As far as I can tell, Phoenix Woman didn't even see our paper or read the stories. She bases her gripe on another, equally goofy liberal blog called Bluestem Prairie, where Sally Jo Sorensen wrote:

The paper published three stories Saturday about the local tea party...

What’s the problem? Check out the lede for the first story of the three handed in by Tea party toadie and PB political reporter Heather Carlson:

It appears that only a blustery, rainy forecast has been able to keep Rochester Tea Party Patriots from speaking out.

The group canceled what would have been its third annual tax day rally Friday in Rochester. But while they weren’t out at Soldiers Field waving signs calling for budget cuts and an end to the “nanny state,” Tea Party activists say it won’t curtail the efforts that have made them a growing force in local politics this year. . . .

Yeah, you read that right. The Tea Party Patriots of Rochester cancelled their rally because of a weather forecast (probably assisted by that nanny-statish National Weather Service), but still got three stories in the Post Bulletin.

Aside from being ignorant and offensive, Sally Jo's comment is also pretty funny. Tea Party "toady" Carlson worked on those stories for more than a month and we promoted the report in advance. Yes, the "timepeg" was Tax Day and the Tea Party rally, but the coverage was far deeper than just news coverage of an anti-tax rally.

They were well-reported, even-handed stories -- two stories plus a Q & A, for the record -- that no one could reasonably say were the work of a "toady." But consider the sources of the complaint.

The FDL post continues -- again, just passing along garbage from Sorensen:

As Sorensen goes on to note, union members of her acquaintance have told her that the Post-Bulletin routinely ignores pro-labor protests, ones with actual protesters who are out in all sorts of weather and who don’t leave when the news crews do. Yet the sunshine patriots so beloved of the P-B get fawning treatment despite being total no-shows.

Sorensen and Phoenix Woman are welcome to check our archives for recent reports on "pro-labor" events in Rochester. There've been a few events, not hugely attended but newsworthy, and we covered them.

I'd be surprised if local union leaders have a problem with our coverage in recent years, and if they do, they can call me.

There's more to say about this (including FDL's assertion that Russian TV covered the protests in Madison better than most U.S. media), but honestly, I've wasted enough time today on kooky bloggers.

Well, now we've all played our expected roles in this little drama: Frank has weighed in on the side of FDL and Sally Jo, Mark is amazed that libbies are unhappy with me, and I just say it goes with the territory.

As one who has defended him on other topics, I have to agree with those who suggest that this is one of Jay Furst's (occasional) "thin skinned" moments.

[SEE "ignorant & offensive" comment, for starters]

Anytime you devote That Much (less-than-critically analytical) space to Any extremist movement, you'd better be prepared for some push-back from those whose own parties & issues have long been Under-reported by the local press.

I'm not saying that the PB doesn't try to fairly cover local, staged events sponsored by the two major parties (and/or related events by unions & pro-GOP business interests); but the depth of reporting often leaves Much to be desired.

I had to laugh when I read this. The PB gets a hard time no matter what kind of reporting it does. It gets called "liberal" for reporting stories the conservatives don't like and then gets accused of "fawning treatment" of the tea party from liberals. I certainly don't envy your job at times. In these times of the 24 hour news cycle and news cable channels that cater to an individuals own personal political beliefs, people seem to expect that news reporting should be customized and in agreement with their own personal beliefs. People believe that if a news article reports on a topic they do not like, then the writer or media company must be slanted. Unfortunately, news providers like MSNBC and FoxNews only perpetuate the problem. I find it quite sad that we live in a "fact free era" where politicians and pundits can say whatever they want with no basis on fact and when the media calls them out they are just labeled as "elite" or "lame stream media".

TheinBomb: I think you've hit on something we can all agree. The weather. Hell does seem to be freezing over. However, I don't think the Vikes will take the Super Bowl.

Jay: Loyal readers of this space might be puzzled why you assert that blogs can lose credibility with you, when you have no history of granting blogs credibility to begin with. Indeed, each time liberal-to-left bloggers scrutinize the Post Bulletin's coverage, you spend an enormous amount of time telling those readers how naughty we are. Perhaps you'll even get another invite to be on Almanac out of this one, just as you did when the PB's coverage of neo-nazis in Austin. Good luck!

I agree, "George," the more pressing issues regarding blogging -- even vitriolic partisan blogs -- include accuracy, fairness and good taste. You get your opinion on your blog and I get mine here: In my opinion, you lose credibility and hurt your cause when you smear good journalists.

Jay, you've clearly identified the most pressing issue in blogging: the use of a nom de plume. Since the Post Bulletin has such a problem with the use of pseudonyms in political discourse, perhaps you might assign Heather Carlson the task of digging up the dirt on that guy "Publius," who wrote the Federalist Papers.